Stunningly Beautiful

It was an amazing trip to Gatlinberg! This was the view from our cabin.

We went for Greg's brother's wedding. When we got there and met up with the cousins, Shaina decided to show us where her cabin was. So we started to walk to their cabin. Down the mountain, around the mountain, up the mountain..."OH this is not the right way.",she says. Down the mountain, around and up a different way. I said, "Would you please call Kevin and find out where the cabin is?" So they called and they weren't even there. So we walked all the way back to our cabin. Later that evening we got to visit their cabin. It wasn't even in the same direction as where we were walking and it really wasn't close enough to walk to. However, it made for some pretty photos.

Spring has sprung here. The trees are beginning to bloom.

It is just amazingly beautiful!

Our cabin was really nice. It was stocked with just about everything you can think of.

Greg got to catch up on some reading.

This hung from the front porch. Inside there were detailed directions on what to do if you encounter a bear. You should get close together with whoever you are with, raise your arms and look as big as you possibly can, talk very loudly and walk backwards slowly. If you run it might think you are prey.

The cousins say Mason has a Justin Beiber haircut. I haven't looked him up to see, but I know he is very popular. Greg told us all a really funny story. One of his friends who has 2 young girls took them to see the Justin Beiber movie. He ended up enjoying the movie himself and decided to post on Facebook about it. So when he posted he meant to say, I can't believe I'm saying this but I have Beiber Fever. Well...it autocorrected Beiber to wiener. So to all his friends he wrote,

I can't believe I'm saying this but I have wiener fever!

And Sunday when we went to Logan's with the grandparents, something else funny happened.
Blade is my nephew.

You know how kids make up jokes and they don't mean anything? Well Blade repeated a joke that Mason made up. When Nana heard it she said, "Blade WHERE did you hear that?" He told her Mason just made it up. When we realized it was completely innocent we busted out laughing.

Q: What did the peanut say to the man?

A: Where's your nuts?

We had to explain it to the boys and I think Mason was a bit embarrassed because he didn't mean it that way at all. But that joke has been told over and over again this week- not by the kids but by the adults. We are still laughing!

Ashley

Blade

Aussie

The kids love being around their cousins.

This is the end of day 1 in the Smokies.

Hopefully I'll put day 2 on tomorrow.

Space and Rocket Center Field Trip

Thursday we went to Alabama to the Space and Rocket Museum. We had a fabulous time. We will have to go back soon! Unfortunately, my big camera didn't make it into the car. It only made it to the garage steps. I had my little camera with me, but it was acting up. It kept turning off even though I had fully charged the battery the night before. So I didn't get very good pictures. This first picture- well it's Photoshopped. They had a wall climbing thing there and that was Aussie's favorite! They all liked it and did it 3 or 4 times. Aussie of course thought he was an expert. It had several levels 1-12. The easier ones were to the left and then it gradually got harder. Aussie conquered level 8 and got 1/4 way up level 11 and he was telling everyone he had conquered that level as well.
Mason almost made it to the top, but he looked down and got nervous.Hmmm...I'm not sure where the picture of Ashley went. She climbed all the way to the top on level 3.

When they built this facility they brought the spaceship in sections and they built the building around the spaceship. This is one of three rockets in the USA that is fully built and could be used if needed to go to space. We actually saw one of the other ones at Cape Canaveral the last time we went to Florida. I believe the other one is in Texas.

This little section below is actually where the astronauts sit. The whole rest of the rocket holds the fuel and is what makes them get up into space. I believe 3 astronauts can sit in here.

I actually can't remember how this clock tells time, but I thought it was cool.

This outside rocket is a model. It is the actual size of a real rocket that is used.

They had a little class about air pressure. Mason and Ashley were chosen to help demonstrate air pressure going into a 2 liter. Ashley went first and the experiment went as expected to the teacher. The little paper wad fell to the ground. Then Mason blew and the paper wad went into the bottle. That was not supposed to happen. But because she hadn't explained what would happen, I could tell Ashley felt a little embarrassed that hers did not go into the bottle.

Then they did a really cool experiment. And all of us got to try it. Everyone put a cup on their head and then one person blew them off with an air shooter thingy made out of a trash can, shower curtain and bungee cord.

I think we will need to make one of these on a smaller scale. We all had fun with this.

Then they got to make rocket fuel. They had to wear 2 pairs of gloves.

They each tried on this sleeping bag. It is attached to the wall of the spaceship.

And here is the group shot. This was a homeschool field trip. I'm glad my friend bought this picture. I wanted to buy it, but got there too late.

Be My Valentine

I can't believe I missed getting these pictures on the blog. The day after I took these pictures I got sick and the rest of the family got sick as well. We stayed sick for 3 weeks. It was so frustrating! Anyway, this is around Valentine's Day. Aussie wanted to get or make something for Kadence so bad. He told me he wanted to make a cake. So he helped bake it and told me how to decorate it.

We were supposed to go to a Girl Scout function where Aussie would give the cake to Kadence. But the meeting was cancelled because of the weather. So we braved the roads (which were perfectly fine) and went to Kadence's house to give her this special Valentine's gift. Aussie wanted to wear a tuxedo, but didn't have one. Kadence dressed up for the occasion as well.
He is so smitten!

And we just found out yesterday that she will be returning to co-op next year ! So they will get to see each other every week.

Mom's Bragging Again!

All of this for $2.17?

Yes, I walked in the house all giddy from my shopping trip. I cleared off the table and started the set up for the above picture. Mason says, "So you're going to brag about your shopping trip again, huh?" Aussie asked, "How did you do?" I wasn't sure until I sat down and figured it out, but I told him I practically got all the groceries for free.

I actually spent $102.17.
Now I know you are saying wait a minute THAT is NOT Free! Or even close to being Free! What I am not counting in my groceries are the two $50 Shell Gas Gift cards I bought with the groceries.

See Publix has a deal this week that if you spend $25 (before coupons) you can get $10 off a $50 gas gift card.

So tonight I split my groceries into two transactions. I really didn't need that much yogurt, but I had coupons to make it free and I needed to get my total up to $25 so I could get the gift card.

I suppose I ought to say I spent $22.17 on groceries, but I prefer to let the 2/ $10 off coupons for gas cards go toward the groceries. So I will say I only spent $2.17. Not too shabby!

I have a wonderfully busy day tomorrow. And I'm sure you will get to see other pictures besides my grocery trips in the next day or two. So I really really need to get to bed! But for those who are interested below are the details to my shopping trip.

Details:
2 Simply OJ- 2 for $6
Used 2 $1.00 coupons
=$2.00 each

6 Oscar Mayer Lunchables -$1.00
Used 3 $1.00/2 coupons
=$.50 each

1 Glad quart size storage bags and 1 Glad gallon size freezer bags - B1G1
No coupons :(
= $1.60 each

4 Cheerios 2 for $5
Used 2 Publix coupons $1/2 (Revised)
Used 2 Mfg coupons $1/2
Used Target coupon $1.50/3
= $1.13 each (The way we eat Cheerios I need to get me some more coupons and do this again!)

8 Birds Eye Steamfresh Broccoli- 50% = $.89
Used 4 Publix coupons $1/2
Used 1 MFG coupon $.50/2 (Kroger mailing)
Used 2 MFG coupons $1.00/3
= $.01/ $.02 each

6 Yoplait YoPlus yogurt- B1G1= $1.00
Used 6 MFG coupons $.50 (Publix doubles coupons $.50 <> =FREE

2 Eggo Pancakes -B1G1= $1.40
Used 1 $1.00 MFG coupon (Kroger mailing)
= $.89 each

6 Sargento Shredded Cheese- 2 for $4.00
Used 6 Publix coupons $1.50
= $.50 each

2 Publix Big Towel Roll (Wednesday Penny item)
=.01 each

Shazam! Doing the Coupon Shuffle

Shazam!

I feel like being silly! I'm so giddy over my Publix purchase today.

Is it cool to do the coupon shuffle right in the store? Or should I at least wait until I'm in the parking lot?

My kids were so cute in the store today. They were watching the screen and as she was taking off each coupon they were cheering, "Keep going! Keep going!" Mason got a little disappointed that it didn't get down to zero. I just told them my goal was to spend less than $20.

And I succeeded!

I paid $13.46 for $130 worth of groceries.

Here's the low down:

8 Progresso Soups $.39 each

8 Green Giant Vegetables (a variety) $.39 each

6 Wishbone Salad Dressings (a variety)- They paid me! $.31 each profit.

2 Sargento 8 oz. Shredded Cheese $.10 each

2 Stouffer's Soup and Sandwich $1.50 each

2 Muir Glen tomatoes/sauce- They paid me! $.15 profit

2 Green Giant frozen green beans- They paid me! $.25 profit

2 Breyers ice cream (We are an ice cream family!) $2.25 each

4 Aunt Jemima Pancake pkgs $.85 each

3 Finish Dishwasher Detergent- They paid me! $.25 each

2 Simply Orange orange juice $2.00 each

and I wouldn't normally buy these but to get an extra $6 off my order I sure did!

12 Mentos -They paid me! $.50 each

I find almost all of my deals on www.southernsavers.com

But a friend cued me into the Mentos deal this morning.

Have you gotten into the coupon groove?

How did you do this week?

Coupon Database- New Business

I'm starting a business. Maybe you're interested?

The way I do my coupons is not a new way of doing it, but the way I find my coupons might be.

Let me explain about my coupon system.

First, I used to praise up and down the zippered binders. However, I have not found one that is big enough to meet my needs. (I still use mine, I just can't zip it.) I love that it has pockets on the front. I keep small scissors, a pen, and a calculator in there. The kind of binder I recommend is the 3" D ring binder. I was wondering if they make them bigger than 3", so I did a Swagbucks Search and found some up to 5". I may have to get one of these, but they are expensive. I'll have to find them on sale somewhere. This is what a D-Ring looks like. One side is straight and the other side curves. This allows the book to lay flat. I love this Avery binder. It is really easy to open and shut with the black switch at the bottom. I got mine at Staples. I also found these WONDERFUL things a couple of weeks ago. They take up less room than a tab page divider and they can be positioned anywhere on the page. I LOVE them!There are several ways to organize your coupons. Formerly, I clipped the ones I might need and put them in a small expandable envelope divided by category. Then I stepped it up and cut out all of my coupons putting them in 9-pocket pages designed to hold baseball cards. And I divided them up into categories. I had 5 main sections - Frozen, Refrigerated, Other Foods, Household and Medicines - which I further divided into subcategories. It was good, but terribly time-consuming. And I got behind - very behind. Not only was it difficult to categorize each coupon, I had to carefully and creatively fold the coupon so I could see its product, its cash value, AND expiration date. So when a coupon is for 2 or more products - such as "buy body wash and get a razor free" - how do you categorize that? Under soap? Under razors? I just had to find another way.

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So then I decided to get a big, expandable folder and organize the coupons by date in uncut sheets, and follow couponmom's guidance on using them. She puts all the deals on her website, notes which paper has which coupon, and then you can just pull that paper out and cut out the coupon.

Great idea - however I didn't have much visibility into my entire coupon inventory, so many coupons went unused.

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Then my friend told me about her system. She cuts every coupon, organizes them by date, then prints off a coupon list and puts it in front of each date. She gets her list from SouthernSavers. This is a great system except she had to look at each page to see if she had a specific coupon.

So I improved it and created an Excel spreadsheet that tells where to find each coupon. This is what I am selling. On a weekly basis, I will send out an update to add to your spreadsheet.

Different regions, different papers have slightly different coupons. As of now, I am only using the Tennessean coupons as my guide. I may expand in the future.

Could you do this yourself? Yes, but it's a time-consuming process. So for only $2/month I can send you an update via email. (Basically $.50 a week, however some months have 5 weeks and some weeks we may not get any coupons. It's a flat fee of $2/ month.)

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Here is how it works:

When I get Sunday's paper, I cut out ALL of my coupons and organize them alphabetically behind the Publication Date of that Sunday paper. (My spreadsheet will tell you where to put each coupon.) Each page is labeled with a number and a letter A through I. The first page would be 1A, 1B...etc. In the example below you will see 8A, 8B...etc. That means we are on the 8th page behind a specific Publication Date. For every coupon, my spreadsheet lists its Publication Date, the Source (such as PG for Proctor and Gamble, SS for Smart Source), the Expiration Date, the Description, its Cash Value, and Required Quantity. And it has a column with my unique labeling location.

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This database can be sorted. First, it shows you where to put each coupon. You don't have to worry about creatively folding each coupon.

It can also be sorted by Expiration Date. Do you know how easy it is to keep my binder current? It is so easy! I sort by Expiration Date and it will tell me exactly where to find the coupon and I can just pull it out and throw it away.

Then it can sorted alphabetically.

This is what I print off and put at the beginning of my binder in page protectors.

I don't always take my binder to the store with me, but I usually kick myself if I don't. I like to follow Southern Savers and Faithful Provisions. I usually get my coupons ready before I go out the door. But when I have my book with me and I come across an unadvertised deal or close-outs then I can find my coupon very easily with my system.

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For example, the other day Seventh Generation paper towels were marked down to $1.19. I looked in my Spreadsheet under "S"eventh Generation, found a $1.00 coupon in the January 23 paper, and it was on the 11th page in slot D. The coupon was easily found and I got the paper towels for $.19.

If you would like to subscribe or have questions email me at:

HisGraceReachesMe (at) gmail.com

(just take out the spaces and change at to @.)

Thank you! Chelle